1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an actuator for use in an air bag device which is inflated at the time of a sudden deceleration of the vehicle or in a preloader of a webbing retractor which is actuated at the time of the sudden deceleration of the vehicle. More particularly, the present invention concerns an actuator for actuating a plurality of air bag devices or preloaders by means of a single acceleration sensor.
2. Description of the Related Art
As an actuator for actuating an air bag device or a preloader of a webbing retractor, a so-called mechanically operated-type actuator is used in which an inertia member is employed and a firing pin actuates a gas generating means at the time of operation of the inertia member.
For example, in a case where a plurality of air bag devices are mounted on a single vehicle by using this mechanically operated-type actuator, e.g., a driver's seat and a passenger's seat are provided with air bag bodies, respectively, it is necessary to provide actuators in correspondence with the air bag bodies, respectively. However, it is desirable that these air bag devices be actuated simultaneously at a predetermined deceleration, and in order to actuate the air bag devices simultaneously at a strictly identical deceleration, it is necessary to fabricate the inertia members and their related components to extremely high degrees of precision.